Eden Hazard has slammed Cristiano Ronaldo for claiming that the Saudi Pro League is healthier than Ligue 1.
Ronaldo has been tooting the Saudi Pro League’s horn ever since being lured to the Gulf state in 2022, and controversially asserted that the division was one of many strongest on the earth final month. His declare divided opinion, although Chelsea legend Hazard, who gained the Ligue 1 title with Lille in 2011, is aware of precisely the place he stands.
“If you look at the league in Saudi Arabia, they have big players, it’s just that they’re not big teams,” Hazard mentioned talking on The Obi One Podcast. “In France, possibly now they’ve much less huge gamers, however they’ve huge groups.
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“I’m sure if a Ligue 1 team played against a Saudi Arabian team, they would win. Maybe not easily, like people might think, but the level in France is good. I’m watching their league and they have talent.”
Speaking on the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards again in January, Ronaldo mentioned: “I think the Saudi league is not worse than France’s league in my opinion. In France’s league you have two or three teams with a good level, in Saudi now it’s more competitive.
If the Saudi Pro League and Ligue 1 merged, which teams would finish in the top four? Let us know what you think in the feedback part under.
“They can say whatever they want. It’s just my opinion and I played there one year so I know what I’m talking about. But I think right now we are better than France’s league.”
Hazard is nicely positioned to offer an opinion about the usual of soccer in Ligue 1. The 33-year-old started his profession in France, having joined Lille as a boy in 2005. He made his first workforce debut in 2007 aged 16, and was named Ligue 1’s Young Player of the Year in 2008. Two years later he fired his membership to home glory, serving to Lille win simply their third-ever Ligue 1 title.
(Image: Getty Images)
(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
His performances that season alerted the world to his generational expertise, and Chelsea gained the race for his signature in 2012, snapping him up for £32million. Hazard admitted he wasn’t contemplating a transfer to Chelsea resulting from how poorly the Blues had been taking part in within the 2011/12 season, however an unlikely triumph within the Champions League – and a telephone name from Didier Drogba – helped change his thoughts.
At Chelsea he rapidly blossomed into one of many Premier League‘s greatest and most eye-catching forwards. He gained the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2014, and was named Player of the Year in 2015 after firing Jose Mourinho’s males to the Premier League title.
Over the course of the following few years, Hazard established himself as arguably the best participant within the land, and it wasn’t lengthy earlier than Real Madrid got here calling. Los Blancos snapped him up in 2019 for £100m, regardless of the very fact he had only one yr left on his contract.
He was successfully signed as Ronaldo’s alternative, however a collection of devastating accidents torpedoed his profession within the Spanish capital and noticed him decreased to little greater than a bit-part participant. He left the membership by mutual consent in 2023, at which level he was supplied an enormous sum of cash to maneuver to Saudi Arabia. But Hazard declined, selecting to retire as an alternative, aged simply 32.